(wrote this on the plane about 6 hours earlier)
Fatigue: 8 Jan 09 1915Z
Not since Timmy was a newborn have I felt this tired. My hair looks
like death, and my face has broken out like a teenager’s! I’ve
swollen feet and fingers, and the odor of…um…others…have
dominated my nostrils since Italy (I’m near the lavatory).
I took off from Baltimore about 14 hours after I awakened on the
morning of the 7th.
7 hours to Germany. 2 hours on the ground.
1 hour to Italy, 3 hours on the ground.
I’ve been in the air between Italy and my final destination for about
2 hours now. I land at my final destination in about 3 hours.
Let’s do some math and he how long I’ve been awake: 14 + 7 + 2 + 1 + 3
+ 2 = 29 hours
(my record is around 48 hours, give or take, fall 1998).
I’m at “stupid tired” now…it’s taking me forever to type this, in
fact. I’ve already flipped a full coffee cup all over my legs.
On a good note, one of the senior NCOs who used to be in my
flight…who’s now stationed in Germany at the base we stopped
at…met us in the passenger gate area during our 2 hour stop. It was
wonderful to see him and his wife again.
It’s been over 10 years since I was last in Germany and the windmills
all over the hilltops were quite the sight. Those didn’t exist when I
was there in 1998.